


I Said: Don't Be Afraid

by cheshireArcher



Category: Henry IV Part 1 - Shakespeare, Henry V - Shakespeare, Richard II - Shakespeare, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Based on a Twenty One Pilots Song, Gen, Ghosts, Salvation, Taxi Cab (twenty one pilots song), guilt: the gift that keeps on giving, the Battle of Agincourt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 08:00:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12502652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheshireArcher/pseuds/cheshireArcher
Summary: The three men Henry V saw at Agincourt.





	I Said: Don't Be Afraid

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of my favorite twenty one pilots song, "Taxi Cab," which I associate very heavily with Henry V due in part to listening to it a lot around the time I got into the Henriad and also to its spiritual themes.

He'd killed the first man.  
  
Henry had yet to be the king, then he had been  the wayward prince, Hal, first rejecting then begging for his father's love and to win it he'd killed the greatest warrior in the kingdom. It had been in fair combat in battle, exactly how his opponent had wanted to go.  
  
Hal had thought that killing Harry Percy, the Hotspur would show that he was a worthy prince and would regain the things from his father he'd thrown away. Unfortunately it hadn't helped in the long run.  
  
It was the night before Henry would win again, an even greater victory than that day twelve years ago. He sat at a campfire with some common soldiers. They didn't know his identity, he said his name was Harry Leroy and he came from Wales. That much was true.  
  
Harry, le Roi.  
  
But it was just as well, he didn't know the names of his men. They were just numbers in reports on the strength of his army-- the number of horsemen, archers, foot soldiers, mercenaries, the survivors of sickness and the previous engagements.  
  
He stayed as his comrades went to catch what could very well be the last night of sleep they would have. One soldier remained, sitting opposite of him, staring down at the fire. He was silent for the first time that night. He has barely shut up, rambling in a Northern accent. Now he had apparently run out of things to talk about.  
  
"Good evening, Harry of Monmouth," he finally said, his voice startling Henry out of his thoughts. He looked up. "Oh yes, I know who you are."  
  
"I'm not him," Henry lied.  
  
"Bull," was the succinct reply. "You're King Henry, fifth of that name, once Harry of Monmouth, where you were born. You are a Welshman, just as my wife is a Welsh lady."  
  
His wife had been one of his favorite topics that night, aside from his horse and the battles he'd fought. He bragged about his lovely, sharp and and very dear wife, Kate, and how much he loved her. His voice betrayed how much he also missed her. Henry had just listened. He had no one to boast of or to miss.  
  
"I know you well," the man said. "I taught you much of what you know," he said, proudly. He looked Henry in the eye. "My name is Harry Percy."  
  
"Impossible," Henry said. "Harry Percy is dead. Unless you're his son." That was extremely unlikely but it was worth a try to convince himself he was not going insane. "He's younger than you."  
  
"Oh, yes. I was thirty-nine. You made sure I didn't see forty."  
  
"If you're him," Henry said, "you had a dog. What kind? What was its name?"  
  
"An Irish hound, a brach. Her name was Lady."  
  
Henry swore.  
  
"We need to talk," Hotspur said. He looked as alive as ever, despite the lengths Henry's father had gone to in order to prove he was very, very dead.  
  
"What's so important that you'd leave the afterlife for?"  
  
"To save you from your fate," Hotspur replied.  
  
"You know what my fate is?"  
  
"How should I know?" Hotspur asked with a shrug. "The only one who knows that is the King of Time."  
  
"Why are you here to save me from my fate? So I don't end like you?"  
  
"Well, you didn't know who I was," Hotspur replied, somehow sounding nonchalant and offended at the same time. His old stutter apparently no longer existed in the afterlife. "You also didn't know the names of your men who you talked to tonight and are going to kill tomorrow. Your fate is to send many more men like them to _their_  fates and to you they'll just be troops you no longer have. You'll kill men like me, your enemies, because you think you deserve something. Didn't you think about who I was when your sword pierced my heart?"  
  
"Of course I did," Henry said. "You were the leader of the rebel forces who were trying to put overthrow my father and put your nephew on the throne."  
  
"Your cousin," Hotspur said in the voice of a teacher correcting a student. "He was your cousin."  
  
"I don't see what that--"

"You didn't think about who that boy was, just a threat to the house of Lancaster. I was just a threat too, a traitor. You forgot, I was a man. I had a wife, two children. A home. Titles I earned. Douglas was once my enemy, then my friend. I had a dog that followed me everywhere. I taught you to fight with a sword. My wife was the same relation as you to Edward, God rest his soul." He crossed himself and then continued. He was on a roll.  
  
"You remembered who I was when you saw what they did to me. You saw them tear me apart, take my head, you watched but you knew me and you couldn't keep from crying. Will you cry when you see the dead tomorrow? When they're sent back to their wives as I was?"  
  
"Percy, I'm sorry--"  
  
Hotspur looked up. Henry braced for more accusations-- they were all warranted. He deserved this torture.  
  
"I don't want your fate to be that of a cruel man," Hotspur said. "Don't be afraid. You have a good man in there. You can be a great warrior king but also a good one."  
  
"Speak for yourself," Henry said, unable to take it. "All you ever did in your life was fight. You killed so many."  
  
"They were killed for the crown, and they died with honor. I honored them, I remembered who they were even if I didn't know their names. I was thankful every time I came home to my family and I knew that someday I probably would be like the others. And it happened. I killed for your father. I protected his territory and got no thanks. Thank your men." He sighed, apparently trying to suppress one of his legendary tantrums. "I came to show you who these men are. Because you once knew me."  
  
Henry lowered his eyes. "I think I understand," he said.  
  
"Good," Hotspur said. He stood. "I have to get going."

"Wait," Henry said. Hotspur stopped and looked at him. "Is this all?"

"All of what?"

"Is it just you who's a ghost and come to haunt me? Will you be back?" He still looked at the ground.

"That's not for me to say," Hotspur said. "Just remember wait I said about your fate."

Hotspur was gone when Henry looked up.

He could have sworn he heard someone whistling for a dog. 


End file.
